I’ve been doing a lot of bike riding out in this area cyclists refer to as “Silk Sheets”, which is a loop that cruises around Fairburn and Palmetto. Many of my spandex-clothed brethren begin the ride at a church that is fairly easy for me to access – I just drive 25 minutes out Bolton Rd, which eventually turns into Fulton-Industrial and go straight for what seems like a million stop lights.
After the ride, I’m ravenous, so I usually stop and get something to eat to quell my stomach’s screams. First it was Bojangles, but lately I’ve been hitting up Susis Taco Grill.
In a strip mall by the Bojangles, Susis is a small little place with maybe six tables, a large menu (tacos, tortas, enchiladas, whole chickens – you name it), and three friendly guys that serve up some damn fine food. So far I’ve only tried four of the tacos (carne asada, al pastor, carnitas, and lengua), as tacos are the best candidates for eating while driving. The lengua is pictured above because that’s the only one to make it all the way home. You can see that if you order them “all the way” they are loaded up with beans, tomatos, and cheese, which I don’t normally see on tacos of this style. Some may think it crowded, but I particularly like the addition of the beans.
I wish I had a picture of it, but the carnitas were the best I’ve ever had. Susis didn’t skimp on the large chunks of tender and crispy edged pork, which had an incredible aroma of cinnamon without an overpowering flavor the spice. Wonderful.
So good, in fact, I ended up making carnitas at home the next day….more on that later this week.
But regarding Susis, if you are anywhere close to that side of town, I highly recommend trying it out.
Forgive the awful 3G iPhone photo (not even 3Gs, get with it Jimmy!), but I have to mention my meal at Aria last night. It was the type of meal where I woke up excited because I thought I had leftovers, only to realize I had dreamt that I had leftovers. Some people have wild sex dreams, I have leftover veal schnitzel dreams.
But oh what a preparation of veal it was. The so called “summer” veal schnitzel was prepared very much like veal milanese; a thin cutlet of crunchy pan fried veal topped with arugula, soft and amazing room temperature heirloom tomatoes, and parmesan shavings. Not complicated, but executed with precision. Which really could have been the theme of the whole meal. Every dish I tried wasn’t over thought, but was excellent. Lemon ricotta ravioli was firm and vibrant, bursting with fresh lemon flavor. The beet salad presentation was impecable, the flavors deftly balanced by the small slices of orange.
In addition, or server Mario provided some of the best and adaptive service I can recall.
I’ll be back. Just as soon as my credit card cools down a bit.
After attending a meeting in Forest Park yesterday, I swung by Taco Rancho, the new taqueria from Chef Jose Rego (formerly of Allegro). I first heard about this place in a write-up Bob Townsend did for the AJC. I had a very good meal at Allegro before their demise, so I had high expectations, which were almost completely diminished as I drove through the desolate State Farmer’s Market to find the place. Finally, the quaint and isolated restaurant appeared.
The interior is very vibrant and clean, most definitely not a dive taqueria joint. Unlike many small taquerias, the menu offers the full spectrum of Mexican food for lunch (not open for dinner) – tacos, burritos, tortas, quesadillas, soups, whole chickens, and more. In addition, they serve breakfast, mostly a eggs, beans, chorizo, or a combination thereof in sandwich, plate, or burrito form.
As this was just a quick snack, I sauntered on over to the counter while I scanned the menu and ordered two tacos – one beef cheek (cachete), and one carnitas. (unrelated – what’s the difference between a saunter and a mosey? I think with a mosey, one would perhaps be wearing cowboy boots. Just a thought.)
The two tacos, served on amazingly thin and smooth white corn tortillas which had been quickly firmed up on the griddle, arrived quickly. The carnita taco was a pleasant mix of both shredded and large chunks of pork, neither one dry. I didn’t get too much spice flavoring on the carnitas, but perfectly juicy pork doesn’t really have to have much flavor added to be great.
The beef cheek, which was slathered in a tomato based sauce which made the whole dish very reminiscent of beef stew, was also excellent, due to the tenderness of the fork tender and gelatinous beef.
These were some damn fine tacos.
Also of note, in the brief couple of minutes before my tacos arrived, some chips hit my table and the waiter pointed me to the salsa bar, which features five to six good looking salsas. I tried the salsa roja with cacahuate (peanuts ya gringo), which was fiery and smooth and excellent.
I’m not sure if I’d drive 30 minutes to hit up Taco Ranch very often, but it’s definitely destination worthy if you are on the south side of town.
